


In a Crowd of Thousands

by ohmygodimagines



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Fix-It, Fluff, M/M, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, The Losers Club, hanbrough if you squint, post chapter 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-08 23:44:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20985251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygodimagines/pseuds/ohmygodimagines
Summary: | With the sun in my eyes, you were gone but I knew even then In a crowd of thousands I’d find you again |Summary: Eddie’s inhaler was more than just a token for the ritual, it was a piece of a memory both men thought they had forgotten in the 27 years they spent apart.





	In a Crowd of Thousands

Richie felt his chest closing in on him as he sped off the stage at the speed of light, his shaking hand reaching up to clench the fabric near his heart. His manager and a PA took him by the arms and helped him backstage constantly asking if he was ok and what was wrong with him. He stumbled backward and sat on a large speaker, now gasping for air “Rich what the hell is going on man?” His manager all but shouts.

Richie shakes his head feverishly, he couldn’t find the words to respond with. People were standing in a blur around him, their voices were muffled with the sound of his thundering heartbeat. In his head flashes of memories were showing up like images in a viewfinder toy, there was an old run-down house, green murky water and a group of kids. They were blurry too he noted.

“Take this,” his manager holds out a light blue inhaler before he pressed it to Richie’s lips to help him. His breathing starts to calm after a few loud gasps, he looks as the man pulls the inhaler away. His hand reaches out and snatches it from him “You can keep it?” he tells him questioningly.

The inhaler, there was something about the small blue piece of plastic. Richie’s eyebrows knit together as he looks at it. Memories swirl around his head like ghosts ‘There was a boy,’ he thinks as he twirls the plastic in his hand, inspecting it. A vision takes over, the pulsing of his heartbeat dims and the voices fade away as the images become clearer.

7 kids push past the large crowd of the Derry Carnival, Bill had the ‘brilliant’ idea that this would be the best way to celebrate defeating IT. The cheerful screams of ride goers filled their ears and the sweet smell of cotton candy filled their noses. It brought smiles to their faces “Where to first?” Ben asks.

“Let’s s-s-split up, in groups,” Bill manages to say, his blushing face ducked from Mike’s view. So, they did, Bill and Mike headed off to the roller coaster while Ben, Bev, and Stan wanted to check out the food. That just left Richie and the object of his affection, Eddie who was grimacing at a child with chocolate all over his face.

“That just leaves you and me Eddie Spaghetti,” Richie groans happily as he drapes an arm over Eddie’s thin shoulders. Eddie whined and rolled his eyes.

“I hate that name,” he reminds him for the 8th time that day. Richie, like always, shrugs him off and starts to walk them through the massive crowd. It was hot, blistering on a June day but he didn’t mind if he was so close to Eddie this way. But what if Eddie didn’t like it? Could you swap germs through sweat? Shit. Then again he didn’t back away from his embrace, in fact, the brown-haired boy leaned in a little bit, but that could have been because of the people bumping into him.

“Where to Eds my boy?” Richie asks in an excited British accent, “Hall of mirrors?”

“Do you know how many people put their faces into those things?” Eddie runs his mouth a mile a minute. Richie started to smile, his cheeks beginning to hurt from the big smile. Eddie was the only one who could make him smile like that.

In front of him, a stupid tall guy moved just so that the sun was blinding into his already weak eyes. “Shit,” he curses, removing his arm from Eddie to shield his eyes from the sun. When the dipshit moved back in front of him, Eddie was gone. Another rush of people filling the spot he left next to him. “Eds?” he questions.

“Eddie!” his voice raises to a shout. Fuck the adults, he nudged and forced his way through the crowd in hopes to find him. He found one of the game booths and hopped up on the wood ledge to get a closer look.

“What the hell are you doing kid?” the worker yelled at him.

Richie didn’t listen to his protests, he was to busy searching for his Eds. The carnival-goers started to blend together until the screams rang out and he saw Eddie on the floor scared to death. Richie hastily shoved his way through the crowd “Move assholes!” he shouted. He had to help him, Eddie’s spare inhaler burning a hole in his pocket.

Richie broke from the memory, Eddie’s name leaving his lips in a whisper. He got up hastily and started speed walking to the door.

“What about the tour?” His manager shouts.

“Fuck the dates!”

Eddie hated the moment he got the call, hated the moment he stepped into Derry, and espically the moment Mike told him about the ritual. Here he was standing at the counter of the pharmacy like a nervous wreck, shifting on his heels while his eyes scanned the vaguely firniliar place.

When Greta handed him the white paper bag, he immediately took out the inhaler but it wasn’t red like all his others. It was blue, a light blue… like the back up one he had as a kid. A tingly feeling rose in his stomach, like a teenager with a crush. A crush?

“Do you know how many people put their faces into those things?” Eddie runs his mouth a mile a minute, not realizing that he and Richie got disconnected, losing each other in a crowd. “Rich?” Eddie questions when he looks over not seeing the familiar face. “Fuck,” he curses looking in between the gaps of people’s bodies. He couldn’t find the lanky boy with shaggy black hair. “Rich!” he calls.

He bumps in adults, trying to get past them and they would grumble and complain as the boy got past them. He started to panic a little as the crowd started to close in on him, without looking he reaches for the zipper to his black fannypack. When he turns around a red balloon was shoved in his face, Eddie stumbles back and was met with the overly cheery face of a clown.

Eddie lets out a shriek and falls backward, scooting away as fast as he can from it “What’s wrong Eddie?” the clown asks. The clown was Mr. Briggs, the nice man that ran the hardware store, but all Eddie could see was Pennywise coming at him to eat him. Eddie only responded in desperate screams as he tried to get away.

“Eddie!” Richie finally found him, on the floor with tears streaming down his eyes and other carnival-goers paid them no mind only offering up odd stares. The taller boy grabbed Eddie by the shoulders and helped him up, running behind one of the game booths that was empty. Richie reached in his pocket and pulled out a light blue inhaler. Holding the shaking boy by the back of the head he helped him with the medicine and calmed him down.

It was Eddie to leaned forward and rested his head on Richie’s chest and the taller boy in return wrapped his arms around him and placed his chin on the top of Eddie’s head “It’s ok Eds, I got you.”

“How did you find me?” he asks weakly.

Richie could’ve said that it was his screams that led him, but he could pick the hypochondriac out anywhere in a crowd “I’ll always find you.”

Eddie’s eyes open wide at the memory. He used to be in love with Richie Tozier. His best friend. His confidant. No, he was still in love with the comedian. The man shoved the inhaler in his pocket and got out of there as fast as he could.

Neither of them were sure that each other knew about the memory of that day at the carnival. They didn’t bring it up when the rest of the losers started to reminisce about their childhoods. Richie was too embarrassed because he knew if he told Eddie old feelings were going to emerge and Pennywise was still holding it over his head. As for Eddie, he was dealing with the fact he was married to a woman, finally knowing why he didn’t love her soothed his soul a little.

At the ritual they had a connection when Eddie held out the blue inhaler, their eyes locked and the instantly knew about that summer day “Eds,” Richie starts, but before he could the end started to unfold. It was dark and they were scared out of their minds, running from the spider thing that IT transformed itself into.

“Give me that!” Richie groans as he tried to take the spare inhaler away from Eddie. Eddie protests and tries to bring the inhaler up to his lips Richie continues to fight until he rips it away from him “Do you remember?” Richie yells over the crashing of rocks and their friends yells.

“The carnival?” Eddie shouts back.

Richie’s face softens, that’s not exactly what he had in mind “N-no. The fact that you don’t need this shit!”

Eddie could have sworn the comedian remembered too, and that was one of the few memories he had. The fact that he saved Richie’s life, the intense pain he felt as he looked down to see the claw go through his insides. “Rich,” he groans out. He doesn’t even remember his last words, everything was dark and painful.

The next thing he saw was a light as bright as the sun, his eyes open slowly and his dark eyes adjust to the hospital lights. His head turns and see’s Richie’s sleeping form in the uncomfortable chair beside his bed. “Richie,” his voice weakly calls.

Richie awakes with the sound of Eddie calling for him, and he shot out of that chair and onto his feet “Eddie thank God. I-I need to go get the nurse,” Richie panics. Eddie reached up and grabbed his hand.

“Wait,” he whispers. “Do you remember,” there was a long pause “…that day at the carnival.”

“There was a crowd, the losers… cotton candy. You hated it,” Richie starts, gulping, “you thought you saw IT and I rescued you.”

Eddie smiles softly “That inhaler… you had it the whole time. You helped me.” There was still a piece missing from the memory until Richie looked down at him, the harsh light behind the man. It triggered the missing piece.

“I’ll always find you,” Richie says kindly, rubbing up and down Eddie’s back. Eddie’s heart couldn’t take it anymore, he looks up and leans back. He could barely make out Richie’s face from the sun glaring behind him. The smaller boy reaches up and cautiously places his lips over Richie’s slightly chapped ones. Richie’s eyes flutter shut, his hands touching the sides of Eddie’s face. Eddie pulled away and nervously looks up at the boy in front of him, sucking in his plush lower lip.

“You kissed me,” Richie says suddenly, the memory rushing back to him.

“I didn’t tell you that.”

Richie takes off his glasses and wipes his teary eyes “I remember… all of it,” he weeps like he did at the quarry. Eddie grips onto his hand tighter, well as much as he could with the minimal strength he had.

“I love you, Richie.”

Rich bends over and kisses Eddie’s forehead “I love you too, Eds. I’m sorry it took so long.” Eddie shakes his head and chuckles, adjusting so that he could kiss him properly.


End file.
